Tuesday, November 29, 2011

THE STORY MINOTAUR opens with a splash page comprised of two linocuts I made several years previous. I combined them digitally to create this image that combines both the sculpture of the Minotaur that appears in the story and the upcoming correspondence symbolized by a stamp.

I START THE STORY with a prologue. This suggests an upcoming epilogue. These two bookends help define the action that takes place in between. In the opening scene Cypher is working on a TV and the characters confess their undying love. This is a clue to the theme of the upcoming adventure.

The women in the story, a rather ordinary, mundane looking woman, asks Cypher to care for a delicate plant, a symbol of the delicacy of friendship.

ON THE PREVIOUS PAGE the woman displays her intelligence and insight diagnosing the problem with the television set. Here she continues by helping Cypher discover the location of the Minotaur statues that appear in the mysterious postcards he's been getting.

HERE THEY READ about the Minotaur sculpture. If you look carefully you can read the entry to the left of the Minotaur photograph. This scene, a vaguely Belgian or French location, is a subtle tribute to the Tintin stories I enjoyed as a youth.

The quote in the encyclopedia entry "out of the fires of desire and despair are forged all the irreconcilable opposites of paradox" is a quote that appeared in the Cypher story Fear of Dreaming where the characters wandered through a sculpture garden.

CYPHER REFUSES to give much heed to the woman upstairs. He is more concerned with his mysterious postcards from a distant admirer. The stamp on the scene is from the same linocut from which I extracted the Minotaur head. It is intended to suggest the state of helplessness.

I've used a very simple code in this postcard. The encrypted message can be decoded by simply reading the words written in capital letters. It's a rudimentary convention but some have said they missed this important clue to the story.

CYPHER FINALLY GETS IT and begins his journey. Further emphasizing the theme of the relationship between men and women we see a variation of Atlas shouldering the world. If men carry the world on their shoulders, women carry the world in their bellies. This sculpture is a reference to the sculpture at Rockefeller Center in New York City.

CYPHER COMES FACE-TO-FACE with the symbolic representation of dysfunctional masculinity, the Minotaur. Now he goes underground which represents the upcoming exploration of his subconscious mind. He has the presence of mind to mark his path with an X. The fact that he does so beneath a skull (creating a death's head symbol) suggests that things probably aren't going to go as well as he hopes.

I AM TAPPING INTO DEEP, PRIMEVAL IMAGERY. The water and the subterranean nature of the scene indicate we are exploring the subconscious mind. It is also a representation of a vague memory that surfaced from Wind in the Willows.

CYPHER LEARNS THE BAD NEWS that the woman never knew him and his appearance is purely coincidental. He also learns that his preparation of marking his trail is nothing more than a red herring for those who will be pursuing them shortly.

It is on this page that Cypher begins to realize that what he is about to experience will not be what it appears.

Throughout the graphic novel the spiral is the symbol of transformation as well as return to the beginning. Water is also a symbol of the subconscious mind, so Cypher goes even deeper into the subconscious.

CYPHER IS REBORN and exhausted by his transformation which is physical as well as psychological. He finds himself at the base of a huge statue reminiscent of the Minotaur sculpture where he started his adventure.

THE MERMAID IS SYMBOLIC of dysfunctional femininity. The kind of femininity Cypher has endured is the mirror image of dysfunctional masculinity, symbolized by the Minotaur, that he embraced in pursuit of a mythical woman.

Cypher is still under the spell of the woman on whom he has projected his imaginary expectations. For more detailed analysis of Minotaur and Mermaid archetypes see book below:

This scene is an homage to the movie Casablanca. The roar of the engines is symbolic of the outrageous connection Cypher is experiencing regarding his relationship to the unknown but ironically beloved woman. He is still living in a world where his relationship is real. But the woman is completely oblivious to his desire.

CYPHER HAS THE SINKING FEELING that all is not right but he persists with his infatuation and expresses his love for his anima, a woman who is nothing more than a symbol that exists in Cypher's mind.

His relationship with the woman is entirely fictional. The impossibility of a man and a woman connecting under these circumstances is symbolized by the roaring engine that completely obliterates any possibility of real connection and communication.

The woman is left completely perplexed by Cypher's odd behavior. In the next scene we see a flight attendant handing out magazines aboard a plane. Everyone is reading a magazine about love or romance. Except Cypher. He is reading a magazine called Fish tales a symbolic reference to the mermaid and it's dysfunctional significance. It is also a reference to the fiction fishermen often tell about the one that got away.

IN THE EPILOGUE we see a dejected Cypher returning home. He finds a batch of Minotaur postcards in his mailbox. He throws them away in disgust.

He sees his television and suddenly recalls the upstairs woman mentioning how to fix the TV. He makes the adjustment just as the woman from upstairs appears. She is disappointed to see that the trust she had in Cypher was misplaced.

The dead flower is symbolic of relationships left floundering when men pursue the illusion projected onto anonymous and usually unknowable women who arelittle more than personifications of dysfunctional femininity.

ON THE FINAL PAGE we witness Cypher's embarrassment at letting the flower die. His chagrin is heightened as he admits that the neighbor woman was right about the TV. But the woman, in a spirit of forgiveness, joins Cypher in watching TV.

The closing scene shows Cypher in the presence of the dead flower, symbolizing the neglected relationship, seeming to prefer the illusion of a flower he watches onTV.

Is he the kind of man who prefers the illusion of a perfect woman to a relationship with a real human being?

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About Me

Brad Teare spent the nineties illustrating for publishers such as The New York Times and Random House and did book covers for authors such as James Michener and Anne Tyler.

Teare attended the Maynard Dixon Residency in Mount Carmel, Utah and the Forbes Trinchera Residency in Southern Colorado. His work has been featured in American Artist magazine as well as Gulf Connoisseur, based in Dubai. Teare has exhibited in the LA Art Show, the Springville Museum, and most recently the Forbes Galleries in New York City.